Note: the amount of students who receive the award varies annually. Initially, Amazon awarded the bursary to 20 students per year.
The UK is facing a massive shortfall of workers with computer science-related qualifications and skills. In fact, we need 21,000 more computer science graduates each year, according to recent research.
To help plug this skills shortage, Amazon has launched Amazon Future Engineer – a programme that has been designed to inspire and help children get in to computer science. Amazon is also aiming to tackle gender inequality in computer science, so the university bursaries are available only to female students.
As part of this programme, Amazon will be funding bursaries for female university students who wish to study computer science at a UK university.
What is Amazon Future Engineer?
This is a programme recently launched by global retail giant, Amazon. It forms part of their wider ‘Amazon in the Community’ programme.
It’s been designed to help fill the massive skills shortage the UK is currently facing in the field of computer science and technology. According to Doug Gurr, UK Country Manager at Amazon, “UK needs 21,000 more computer science graduates on average, every year, to meet the demands of the digital economy”.
So, Amazon have put together the Amazon Future Engineer, which they hope will help inspire children from an early age to try and fall in love with computer science and to pursue a career in the tech industry.
It’s particularly aimed at children and young adults from low-income backgrounds, as Doug says: “By making computer science skills more widely accessible from childhood to career, we hope Amazon Future Engineer will inspire and empower young people, regardless of their background, to take up careers in computer science.”
So what does the Amazon Future Engineer programme involve?
Well, there are a number of initiatives across all age ranges, with resources for primary and secondary school pupils covering a range of fun coding and engineering lessons.
There are also lots of opportunities for older students too…
What are Amazon offering college students?
As part of the scheme, Amazon are offering apprenticeships to college-aged students across the country.
These apprenticeships vary, in both sector and location but enable apprentices to combine college or uni-based learning with on-the-job training.
You’ll be working in real Amazon offices, development centres and fulfilment centres alongside real, highly-skilled Amazon employees, giving your career in your chosen field a great starting platform.
You can find a full list of what's on offer and more information here.
For those who would like to go down the more academic route to a career in tech, Amazon are also funding university bursaries for female students studying computer science at a UK uni.
The universities at which students can gain a bursary include University of Edinburgh, Kings College London and even University of Cambridge. So if it’s your dream to study at such prestigious universities as these, but you are from a low-income background, the dream might be able to become a reality.
How do you apply for an Amazon Future Engineer bursary?
To apply for the bursary, you need to fulfil this criteria:
- Be female
- Be studying a relevant A-level, Scottish Higher or full time technical course at a further education college
- Have received an offer (conditional or unconditional) to study an eligible subject at a UK university
- Be a UK resident and eligible for 'home' tuition fees
- Be enrolling at a UK university and commencing studies at the start of the next academic year
- Been eligible for free school meals since commencing post-16 studies and/or have at least one parent/guardian in receipt of state benefits excluding child support
Eligible courses include computer science, electrical and electronic engineering, information technology, software engineering, artificial intelligence, computer games and animation, business computing, applied computing, computer forensics, creative computing, computer aided engineering, computation mathematics, computational physics or a combination of these course areas.
Applications for 2024 close on 7 May 2024.
To apply for bursaries, you can apply directly through the bursary page on the Future Engineer website.
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